SA Rocks

Thanks must go out to Andy for this beaut!

Hope he doesn’t mind that I’ve taken some of his brilliant words;

Brilliant. Just noticed this while channel flipping. M-Net are going to start showing repeats of popular shows… based on load shedding schedules. So, Eskom takes you down – fear not, because the latest episode of the late 30s hormonal housewives or whiny promiscuous doctors is just a channel-click away.

I think this is a sterling idea if you are a TV loving obsessive surfing type of person. Mnet hasn’t really been at the forefront of pushing the envelope in technological developments and different sorts of viewing (in my opinion). But this is a refreshing move for them that I can recognise is necessary.

However you know its coming, I think that people seriously need to let the TV thing go. Maybe we should be using this load shedding to recover our innate need to communicate with people we don’t usually communicate with. So my thoughts? Get over it, have a cup of Rooibos tea, light up a candle and talk to your family.

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This post has a bit to do with Eskom but in actual fact it has more to do with saving our planet. I’m trying to take a post out of the Urban Sprout blog (get it? Page out of book, post out of blog) and post something about the environment.

Well this post is about Avusa. It’s not political, media-orientated or about acquisitions of the company. It’s actually about what Avusa is doing to save energy, power and electricity!

A week or two ago company employees received an email asking for suggestions on how the company can save energy.

The response email a week later was quite surprising and impressive. Avusa is doing alot and in fact they are doing most of the things that I have bitched about in the past. Driving home through Sandton I see every building with lights on all day and night, Alexander Forbes, Investec, JSE and many, many others. What a waste of energy. Not at Avusa. Lights will be switched off every night and a few will remain on for security reasons.

Then they have turned the geysers in the building to a more reasonable heat. The Escalators (four stories worth) are only operational for a few minutes each day in peak times. The light bulbs are currently being changed to energy efficient bulbs, the fluorescent roof lights are being culled from 3 per light fitting down to 1 and in some cases two fluorescent bulbs.

They have completely switched off their external billboards until further notice and parking lot lights in the basement parking areas have been completely minimised to save electricity down there too.

How incredibly brilliant is this?

I am confident that if more companies in Sandton alone made these sort of changes that there would be a less severe issue with power from Eskom. I may be talking without knowing but it’s a leap I am willing to take. With close to 4000 employees at one company, the above steps definitely have a huge effect in our area.

Let’s see who else can get on board and soon!

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I got so fed up yesterday with the power cuts, blackouts or loadshedding, whatever you want to call them, that I started a Facebook group: Eskom is killing me.

Charl Norman was kind enough to offer his assistance. So what we’ve done is link his Powerloss.co.za website to the Facebook group. Head over to the site to see how much Eskom has cost us so far with blackouts and the like.

Please join the Facebook group and spread the word around. I know this isn’t positive but I do believe that the group has provided me with a space to vent and to possibly brainstorm some of the options we have. Solar Power, UPS, Generators or any other sources can be discussed.

The group can be used a mechanism to alert people about schedules outs, badly affected areas, traffic problems or anything else that might be worth mentioning or topical.

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In theory yesterday I saved myself about 5 hours of electrical bills. Why? Because I didn’t have electricity anywhere.

I would like to know I am being reimbursed for that time and if you think we should in fact get money back?

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Yesterday the various areas that I live and work in were hit pretty badly during Eskom’s loadshedding.

So here are some things you should think about doing in your time in the dark:

1. Make sure your Laptop is charged and watch a movie or a few episodes of a new series (I suggest Jericho).

2. If it’s evening and you’re at home, have a braai. I did this last night. Instead of making it a typical braai that involves meat and the like I put a pan on the grill and cooked extra things as well. Some fried onions, bacon bits and anything else that you might like. This actually made for a great meal and wonderful evening whether there are lights or not.

3. Open up a bottle of your favourite wine and get wasted!

4. Sit in your garden and have a look at the stars, conversation will flow from there, unless you’re alone. In that case attempt a conversation with yourself, I find those most entertaining.

5. Light as many candles as you have (without burning down your house) and read a good book or any book for that matter).

6. Go on an electricity hunt. Get in your car and drive to a place you’ve never been before. Find a restaurant and have a meal there.

7. Test your emergency capabilities. In other words, see if your household is ready for the apocalypse. Gas heaters, lights and cookers are a must, batteries in excess, frozen food (not for long), stockpiles of everything. If you find that in the dark you can’t get around and don’t have everything take a weekend to sort that out.

What do you do in the loadshedding frenzies?

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